Finished First Lord's Fury, the last of the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. It was ok, but much weaker than the rest of the series. He broke a lot of the rules established earlier in order to make the book more epic, but it felt cheap. The end was also far too abrupt, six books and an epic war that brought a massive kingdom to it's knees and it ends the instant the conflict is resolved with a small epilogue to describe what happened to all the characters.
I finished Surface Detail yesterday. Iain M Banks is back on form with this culture novel. The last line confused me a bit though, and it makes me want to read back over another of his Culture novels to make sure I got the reference.
I finished Glory Road by Heinlein -- not one of his better works. It's one of those "and this happened and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened" books that doesn't really so much have a theme. The opening 40 pages or so are a great post-World War II character study of a soldier, but when the fantasy/sci-fi starts, it just gets ridiculous and pretty pointless. Also, Heinlein's typical railing about near-anarchist forms of government is shoehorned into the very end and not very well connected to the plot.
I'm about halfway through The White-Luck Warrior and I have to say is that the scene between Maithanet, Kelomomas, and his insane brother is by far one of the best in the series. Also, Sorweel is the least interesting character so far. Hopefully his storyline improves now that he will be a hostage for the Nonmen.
The Slog has got to be the best deconstruction of the fantasy quest trope of all time. Every single cliche is broken down, subverted and pulled inside out, right down to the chain mail bikinis.
RE: Sorweel: nope. Here's hoping he gets to do something interesting in the final book.
Couple thoughts: -Ishual who-dunnit intriguing, albeit frustrating. I want to see Akka delve into the Thousand Thousand Halls. -Akka's dreams as Nau-Cuyati will end with "him" being killed in the golden room and the rise of the No-God in reality. (As a sidenote, I was intrigued by the mention of the Inchies traveling from world to world trying to summon the No-God to no-avail. Also, does anyone know what is the significance of 144,000?) -Kelmomas is an evil little shit. I love him. -WTF SARL?! Slog of Slogs indeed. The coffers boys! -Cleric's identity was a pleasant surprise and hints that the hostages are in for a surprise.
I just finished The Island of Doctor Moreau. I must say this it is not as easy of a read as other books from H. G. Wells, although it was still a good read.
I am debating on either starting the second part to S. M. Stirling's Emberverse series or reading Red Seas Under Red Skies. I would be reading Foundation but UPS lost my order.
So I ended up reading Neuropath in less than 24 hours.
I don't know if you've read a book where and anything thing else that deems to interrupt your reading feels like some kind of personal attack on you by the universe but that was my experience.
I feel like I've been having my own version of The Argument in my own head for years. The fact that were was a mystery thriller happening at the same time seems almost inconsequential to my... I guess I would call it enjoyment of this book.
I just can't get engaged in the Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever books. I read them when I was 13 or 14 and recently picked up the first one again. It certainly like to tell me the exposition rather than showing it.
"I AM THE BAD GUY. NICE TO MEET YOU. I WOULD KILL YOU NOW, BUT THEN THE PLOT WOULD BE OVER. HERE ARE THE REASONS I AM BAD, WITH NO REAL GREY AREA. ALSO, LET ME PUT THESE REASONS DOWN FOR YOU IN CONTEXT OF THIS NEW, MAGICAL LAND IN WHICH YOU FIND YOURSELF."
Question, is A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin any good? I've had 5 people recommend this book in the past week or so.
It's very good. Like all things that get recommended to you five times, don't overhype it. Just read it and enjoy it for what it is.
Just finished Foundation, and decided to keep the classic sci-fi rolling by starting Ender's Game. I do have a sci-fi question for the forum though. Has anyone actually made it through the Mars trilogy? Red Mars is one of my favorite books, but I've never made it through to the end of Green Mars. Over the course of 15 years I've tried three times but keep hitting some sticking point. Doe it get better? Should I try again or give up?
Question, is A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin any good? I've had 5 people recommend this book in the past week or so.
I'm reading the series now. It's medieval political intrigue with a smattering of fantasy, as in "there used to be magic and dragons here 200 years ago but now there isn't, sort of". I'm halfway through the fourth book and I've got to say that I probably should have spaced these out some. The story is interesting but the format is meandering, following one character or another through each chapter, in different parts of the world, on opposite sides of the conflict. Epic, to say the least, but it's taking it's toll on my enthusiasm. Scattering the story seems like it made it hard for him to manage the pace in some parts, and I often felt like important things were happening between chapters instead of during them.
Aside from that my complaints are minor. Give it a shot. if you like the first book you'll probably like the others. The world-building is good, there are lots of interesting locales and populations, the religions are imaginative and appropriate to the setting. Most of the characters are well developed and compelling, and it probably features the best antihero I've ever read in a book.
Posted By: MattHas anyone actually made it through the Mars trilogy Are you referring to the Edgar Rice Burroughs series? If so, I read basically everything he wrote. I'm pretty sure I've read every book in each of the Mars, Venus, Center of Earth, and Tarzan series.
Also I agree with basically everyone's comments about Song of Fire and Ice series. It is a good series with some flaws in pacing and character design. Trying out the first book to see if you like the feel of the series is probably the best plan.
Question, is A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin any good? I've had 5 people recommend this book in the past week or so.
It's very good. Like all things that get recommended to you five times, don't overhype it. Just read it and enjoy it for what it is.
Just finished Foundation, and decided to keep the classic sci-fi rolling by starting Ender's Game. I do have a sci-fi question for the forum though. Has anyone actually made it through the Mars trilogy? Red Mars is one of my favorite books, but I've never made it through to the end of Green Mars. Over the course of 15 years I've tried three times but keep hitting some sticking point. Doe it get better? Should I try again or give up?
Yes I did, I liked it. Its hard to encourage you without knowing what your sticking point was, but there's more action, and characters change more readily than before. I got sick of Anne and her constant whining about every little environmental change in the first and second book (I think her name was Anne) and she actually starts to sound like a rational human being in the third one.
To me, some of them were fantastic, but some fell short. It seems like a number of characters (though I can only think of minor ones with this issue) are kind of one dimensional. I misspoke a bit in my last post. I generally like the character design with the exception of a number of boring characters.
Posted By: MattHas anyone actually made it through the Mars trilogy
Are you referring to the Edgar Rice Burroughs series? If so, I read basically everything he wrote. I'm pretty sure I've read every book in each of the Mars, Venus, Center of Earth, and Tarzan series.
He meant Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars which is about a large colony of scientists trying to terraform and live on the planet. Its very very cool. A lot of them go rouge, and with any government oversight on another planet they tend to just do things that would encounter a lot of political or social opposition on earth.
Comments
The Slog has got to be the best deconstruction of the fantasy quest trope of all time. Every single cliche is broken down, subverted and pulled inside out, right down to the chain mail bikinis.
RE: Sorweel: nope. Here's hoping he gets to do something interesting in the final book.
And again, holy fucking shit; Nonmen.
-Ishual who-dunnit intriguing, albeit frustrating. I want to see Akka delve into the Thousand Thousand Halls.
-Akka's dreams as Nau-Cuyati will end with "him" being killed in the golden room and the rise of the No-God in reality. (As a sidenote, I was intrigued by the mention of the Inchies traveling from world to world trying to summon the No-God to no-avail. Also, does anyone know what is the significance of 144,000?)
-Kelmomas is an evil little shit. I love him.
-WTF SARL?! Slog of Slogs indeed. The coffers boys!
-Cleric's identity was a pleasant surprise and hints that the hostages are in for a surprise.
Truth shines.
I am debating on either starting the second part to S. M. Stirling's Emberverse series or reading Red Seas Under Red Skies. I would be reading Foundation but UPS lost my order.
I don't know if you've read a book where and anything thing else that deems to interrupt your reading feels like some kind of personal attack on you by the universe but that was my experience.
I feel like I've been having my own version of The Argument in my own head for years. The fact that were was a mystery thriller happening at the same time seems almost inconsequential to my... I guess I would call it enjoyment of this book.
"I AM THE BAD GUY. NICE TO MEET YOU. I WOULD KILL YOU NOW, BUT THEN THE PLOT WOULD BE OVER. HERE ARE THE REASONS I AM BAD, WITH NO REAL GREY AREA. ALSO, LET ME PUT THESE REASONS DOWN FOR YOU IN CONTEXT OF THIS NEW, MAGICAL LAND IN WHICH YOU FIND YOURSELF."
Just finished Foundation, and decided to keep the classic sci-fi rolling by starting Ender's Game. I do have a sci-fi question for the forum though. Has anyone actually made it through the Mars trilogy? Red Mars is one of my favorite books, but I've never made it through to the end of Green Mars. Over the course of 15 years I've tried three times but keep hitting some sticking point. Doe it get better? Should I try again or give up?
Aside from that my complaints are minor. Give it a shot. if you like the first book you'll probably like the others. The world-building is good, there are lots of interesting locales and populations, the religions are imaginative and appropriate to the setting. Most of the characters are well developed and compelling, and it probably features the best antihero I've ever read in a book.
Are you referring to the Edgar Rice Burroughs series? If so, I read basically everything he wrote. I'm pretty sure I've read every book in each of the Mars, Venus, Center of Earth, and Tarzan series.
Also I agree with basically everyone's comments about Song of Fire and Ice series. It is a good series with some flaws in pacing and character design. Trying out the first book to see if you like the feel of the series is probably the best plan.
Just started The Windup Girl. Learning all their nouns + jargon is doing my head in. I'll stick with it and hopefully it will all make sense soonish.
I fucking loved that book.